“You are what you eat.” This modern catchphrase finds its most perfect expression in the concluding verses of parashat Shmini: “For I am the Lord your G-d, and you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” (Lev. 11:44) This is the only reason offered for the long list of living creatures that we can and can’t eat that precedes it. We can bring a taste of the Holy Temple to our own tables by regarding every morsel we place within our mouths as no less real than an offering upon the altar.